Firebreak (Jackson's Hollow #2)

Chapter 5

All of Jo's attempts to start a conversation and figure out what was going on had been ignored. No one spoke to her, and they didn't speak to each other. The only positive part was that the drive wasn't very long.

"Private plane, or are we flying commercial?" she asked with a false sense of bravado. They had bypassed all the normal ways into Charlotte Douglas International Airport, but it was hard to miss the planes taking off or the fact that they were driving on the tarmac.

"Private," the blonde said. "Look, I know you really want to know who we are and what's going to happen to you, but we're not allowed to tell you." She flashed a wild smile in the rear view mirror. "I really would if I could! But you're not our permanent assignment, we're full up, and besides, you might not even make it to the field."

Hold up, wait–the field? "Field as in, become one of y'all?" Jo asked. Yeah, strong-arming her into joining them sure sounded like a foolproof recruitment plan to her. Guaranteed to ensure her loyalty.

Blondie giggled, then winked at her. "Oops." She shrugged her slender shoulders. "They'll like you at least, you're a clever one. That's a start."

"Joy," Jo muttered, glaring out the window as the car came to a stop. She was going to be petty and make one of them unbuckle her–after all, they were the ones keeping her handcuffed. She'd tried a few times during the ride to cast her fire without directing it through her hands, but she just couldn't. Even though she and Ryker had worked on her not physically using her hands to direct her fire, she had always still felt like her power was flowing through her hands. She couldn't get it to relocate to any other body part.

Too bad it hadn't activated through her feet. Then she could leave a trail of evil fiery footprints.

"C'mon." Timothy grunted, tugging at her handcuffs to get her moving.

"You could ask nicely, you know," Jo said, stumbling out of the car. "You don't always have to resort to violence right away, even though I know that's probably hard for you to believe."

Timothy rolled his eyes and Jo shrugged. "Sorry if I'm making assumptions, but so far y'all have kinda been the kidnap first, ask questions later sort of gang."

"As amusing as you are, Jo, you really don't want to experience firsthand the abilities my team is blessed with," Blondie said, eyeing her.

"Or maybe she does," Timothy responded, cracking his first grin of the night. It was actually highly disturbing. "I'm sure Bryce is itching to give her a good shock." Was that the guy that'd been guarding her mom earlier? She hoped whatever he could do, he hadn't done to her mom.

Hold up, abilities? "Are you all like me?"

"Thought she was supposed to be clever," Alice said, giving her a dark look.

Jo glared back, finding it easier to focus on antagonizing these people then actually thinking about her situation. Or actually thinking about that occasional tug on her bond, the one that made her wonder if Ryker had figured things out already, if he was searching for her...

She hoped he wasn't, she hoped her parents hadn't called him. And that he was still working on that surprise for her that Brett had needed some paint color choices for.

Jo was still in NC and she already missed Ryker. So much.

Nope, nope, not going there. Jo focused her attention back on the idiots. "I don't really care if you think I'm smart or not," Jo said to Alice as the first of the group started up the stairs to the plane. "What's sad, if you're really like me, is that you're rounding up other people with abilities and handing them off to the government for no good reason. Tearing families apart."